4 ms·

I know a lot of people who seem to like working long hours. It allows them to think they're getting more done, but I suspect that many of the processes involved

I know a lot of people who seem to like working long hours. It allows them to think they're getting more done, but I suspect that many of the processes involved could be optimized if they thought about it a bit. For me, I work long hours but it's spread out over the course of a day (so removing breaks/bs it's probably not much more than 40 hours p/wk), and I love what I do, so I do get a lot done (and it feels less like work than other jobs I've had). For other jobs, like being a big firm lawyer, long hours are kind of baked in: You get paid a salary (a big one), the company you work for bills you out by the hour, person with the highest billables doesn't get fired. That's probably not likely to change, it's not a process problem per se, and I suspect there's plenty other jobs generally like that.

gte910h 15y ago
There is an opposite though. Legal projects don't really seem to have budgets like software projects do. I know at my rates, if I work 14 hour days, my productivity shoots down, and I blow the face and upper body off the budget in no time.
gte910h 15y ago
There is an opposite though. Legal projects don't really seem to have budgets like software projects do. I know at my rates, if I work 14 hour days, my productivity shoots down, and I blow the face and upper body off the budget in no time.
gte910h 15y ago
There is an opposite though. Legal projects don't really seem to have budgets like software projects do. I know at my rates, if I work 14 hour days, my productivity shoots down, and I blow the face and upper body off the budget in no time. I tell people this, but they still want it sometimes. But really, it's usually better to cut expectations and go at a measured pace all the time.
gte910h 15y ago
There is an opposite though. Legal projects don't really seem to have budgets like software projects do. I know at my rates, if I work 14 hour days, my productivity shoots down, and I blow the face and upper body off the budget in no time. I tell people this, but they still want it sometimes. But really, it's usually better to cut expectations and go at a measured pace all the time.
rhizome 15y ago
At the company I mentioned elsewhere in this thread, the biggest proponents of long hours were a couple of (hourly, natch) contractors who were practicing the most aggravating form of Mortgage-Driven Development I've ever witnessed firsthand. Then salaried people were hounded to work extra hours to keep up with their sh-- code.
- Cushman 15y ago
  This story is better if you read it as the contractors actually made you write the project in sh.
  - rhizome 15y ago
    Ah, the asterisks got eaten!
T-hawk 15y ago
I've known at least a few guys who did indeed like working long hours in the office, since that was less stressful than going home to a house full of cranky kids at bedtime. One co-worker even relished his 1.5 hour commute as the only relaxing parts of his day. I often like to hang around the office to take care of personal business-but-not-work stuff between 6 and 7 pm. Things like personal finance, doing accounting for this one volunteer organization (I'm treasurer), browsing and booking personal travel. I never want to do that stuff once I'm at home, so putting that into the 6-7 pm window both lowers temptation to do it during the business workday and pushes out an urge to keep working on work stuff late.
- mellery451 15y ago
  I would call that selfish (avoiding the kids at home, that is). Sure, there are plenty of days I'd probably just rather hole-up in my cube and code late into night, but I don't because it's more important that I be an engaged parent. It's not like my kids are going to get a do-over on childhood.
silverlake 15y ago
Law firms are changing. They are moving away from billable hours and towards fixed price contracts. They are making better use of non-partner track lawyers to handle routine stuff, and those lawyers get sane hours and lower salaries.
- dave_sullivan 15y ago
  You're right, some are moving away from billable hours because they have to. However, I haven't heard much about a reduction in working hours. Lots of out of work lawyers and biglaw firms are back to offering 160k+ to summer associates--business as usual but less of it to go around. Non-partner track seems same as it's ever been, except you're less likely to have a job. I'm glad I'm not a lawyer...

gte910h 15y ago

There is an opposite though. Legal projects don't really seem to have budgets like software projects do. I know at my rates, if I work 14 hour days, my productivity shoots down, and I blow the face and upper body off the budget in no time. I tell people this, but they still want it sometimes. But really, it's usually better to cut expectations and go at a measured pace all the time.

gte910h 15y ago

rhizome 15y ago

At the company I mentioned elsewhere in this thread, the biggest proponents of long hours were a couple of (hourly, natch) contractors who were practicing the most aggravating form of Mortgage-Driven Development I've ever witnessed firsthand. Then salaried people were hounded to work extra hours to keep up with their sh-- code.

Cushman 15y ago
This story is better if you read it as the contractors actually made you write the project in sh.
- rhizome 15y ago
  Ah, the asterisks got eaten!

T-hawk 15y ago

I've known at least a few guys who did indeed like working long hours in the office, since that was less stressful than going home to a house full of cranky kids at bedtime. One co-worker even relished his 1.5 hour commute as the only relaxing parts of his day. I often like to hang around the office to take care of personal business-but-not-work stuff between 6 and 7 pm. Things like personal finance, doing accounting for this one volunteer organization (I'm treasurer), browsing and booking personal travel. I never want to do that stuff once I'm at home, so putting that into the 6-7 pm window both lowers temptation to do it during the business workday and pushes out an urge to keep working on work stuff late.

mellery451 15y ago
I would call that selfish (avoiding the kids at home, that is). Sure, there are plenty of days I'd probably just rather hole-up in my cube and code late into night, but I don't because it's more important that I be an engaged parent. It's not like my kids are going to get a do-over on childhood.

silverlake 15y ago

Law firms are changing. They are moving away from billable hours and towards fixed price contracts. They are making better use of non-partner track lawyers to handle routine stuff, and those lawyers get sane hours and lower salaries.

dave_sullivan 15y ago
You're right, some are moving away from billable hours because they have to. However, I haven't heard much about a reduction in working hours. Lots of out of work lawyers and biglaw firms are back to offering 160k+ to summer associates--business as usual but less of it to go around. Non-partner track seems same as it's ever been, except you're less likely to have a job. I'm glad I'm not a lawyer...